Slow down weekends!

Where did the weekend go? We had a pretty busy weekend and this always makes it go by way to fast! Saturday we went to the Tausher family reunion (my Grandma Thompson's side of the family) and had a beautiful afternoon to hang out in the park, eat good food (potlucks are the best), and visit with family.

Weston and Gianna had fun picking up pine cones that, at first glance, looked very similar to something you would find in the grass if you owned a dog:)

Then Saturday night, we went to Merrick State Park to visit Mimi, Chrissy, Darrell, and Mae. They were camping there for the weekend, so we met them for dinner and a bonfire. We are not yet brave enough to go camping with Weston; however, I think he would love it. He got so messy yesterday being outside all day and seemed to love it. Weston's cousin Mae is only four months old and this was already her second camping trip!

Weston's first campfire

For Father's Day we hung out with Grandma and Grandpa Thompson and had a relaxing day. I think Michael enjoyed a day to relax since work is very consuming right now. After church we went out for brunch and then all came home and took naps! It is amazing how wonderful naps can be when you don't normally get to take them.

Finally, this picture is for Aunt Beth. She picked up some cute clothes for Weston at a rummage sale and I promised a picture of him in his new camo pants:)

Happy Birthday Gianna!

Gianna is one year old! We can't believe it!! Last weekend we headed up to Chippewa Falls to celebrate cousin Gianna's first birthday and it was a wonderful day:) Andrea and Andy were great hosts, the weather was beautiful, and Gianna really seemed to enjoy the day.

(She did get a lot more messy than this eating her piece of cake.)

Weston getting ready to do some sidewalk art at Gianna's party.

Weston's first time riding a bike- Mommy and Daddy just might have to get him one of these for his birthday:)

Weston wouldn't keep his hat on, so he sported a sunscreen mohawk for most of the day.


After Gianna's party we headed back to La Crosse for a bridal shower for my future Aunt Jessie. I didn't even get a picture of the bride-to-be, but look for wedding pictures in two months:) We joked that the shower seemed more like a baby shower because we had six little ones running around at the shower, and at one point, it seemed like it was nap time for all six!

Weston and Great Grandma Luebke

My cousin Brianna was great help with Weston during the shower- she will make a great babysitter one day:)

In other news, Weston is getting quite good at crawling up the stairs at my parent' house. This video was taken last Friday and he is even faster now. (Please excuse the sideways shot- I was thinking that it would turn out like a picture I take sideways.)

Well, that is the news for now. Oh, we are still set to close on our house June 29th and Michael is staying very busy at his new job. Please keep him in your prayers- as we all know, starting a new job can be very stressful! I, on the other hand, am loving my job:) Weston and I have a great time hanging out together and he keeps me smiling and busy all day!

Good Night

Well, the latest in house news is that we had the inspection today and it went well. There are a few things that will need fixing in the very near future, but nothing too major. We are one step closer! Before all the house stuff happened- we spent some time in Necedah with family and I didn't take a single picture, but we did have fun and got to do some catching up with Tamie, Jacob and their kids. Then, last Saturday we went to a family friend's wedding and it was beautiful. I haven't been good with my camera lately, so I didn't get a picture of Weston in his cute suit before the end of the night when there wasn't much left of it. (He slowly lost articles of clothing as the night went on.) Here a few pictures I did manage to get.

Aren't we missing somebody?

Sisters

At this point he really needed a good nap and I guess he was too tired to hold his bottle! We all got a good laugh when we looked over and saw him drinking his bottle this way.

Weston, Aunt Beth, Gianna, and Aunt Andrea tearing up the dance floor.

After the wedding, Michael left for a week of training in Wausau. It was a busy week for him full of too much information to handle in one week, but he did enjoy it. So far, this week he has been getting settled in his office and will meet with some of his clients this week and next. He is a little overwhelmed, but is handling it very well.

When Michael is gone I appreciate being with my parents even more! It is so nice to have the extra help:)

Grandpa showing Weston how to be a cowboy and put grass in his mouth. Not that he doesn't already know how to put grass in his mouth:)

Finally, this past weekend we went to my cousin Scott's graduation party and, again, I didn't take any pictures! I do have an excuse for not being on the ball though. Weston has been regressing in his sleeping through the night and lately has been doing this thing where he gets up about 3 am. He doesn't want to eat and doesn't need comfort- he just wants to play! I told Michael this is harder than when he used to wake up hungry or crying for comfort because it isn't a quick fix. He will NOT go to bed until he is tired again and twice this week he ended up staying up for two plus hours. Then when he is finally tired, he has been doing this thing where he realizes he his about to fall asleep and does something to wake himself up- like sit up really fast. Hopefully, this is a very short phase!!!! I am tired just thinking about it and I should really go to bed! Good night.

Very Quick Update

I am going to update our faithful readers very quick! Michael is gone for the week training in Wausau, so since I won't have opportunities to catch up on sleep and nighttime is the only time I get to work on my blog, I have to be sensible and choose sleep over working on it. Anyway, we made an offer on a house in West Salem (which happened to be exactly what we were looking for) and after a counteroffer we got the house! We still have a ways to go until it is officially ours (loan approval, inspection, appraisal, etc..), but if all goes well, we will move in at the end of this month!! We are very excited and CAN'T WAIT:)

Memorial Day Weekend

Michael, Weston, and I had a nice, relaxing Memorial Day Weekend. We went to Chippewa Falls to house sit for Andy and Andrea while they were up in Duluth for Andy's bike race, so we got to have some quality family time with just the three of us before Michael starts his new job next week. That's right- I said Michael starts his new job!!! He passed his final test last Thursday and will start with Catholic Knights as a financial services representative on June 1st. This also means that we have begun our official house hunting:) We got a realtor and will start looking at the insides of houses tomorrow (we have looked an many neighborhoods and outsides already). Hopefully, we will have more house news soon! Here are some pictures and videos from the weekend.

Saturday we went to the local park and zoo.

Weston hamming it up while eating- "Oh, you got me in the heart."

Weston is sooo big!

Yes, that is his finger up his nose and food in his hair. (Michael gets lots of anxiety when Weston eats because he gets so messy.)

Weston is getting better at "cruising" furniture.

This weekend it became obvious that Weston is picking up more and more on what we do and repeating what we do. At this moment we happened to be taping Weston playing when we discovered he knew how to get his toys from under the couch! We never showed him this, he just must have watched us do it at one point:)

Andy, Andrea, and Gianna came home Monday evening and we ended our Memorial Day with a picnic and a small walk around the park. *Note: Picnics can be challenging with two babies who would rather eat the grass than stay on the blanket and eat their food:)

Lots To Blog About!

Okay, so I had good intentions of doing a blog last Thursday (I am trying to do at least one a week), but this is how Weston woke up on Thursday morning.

This was the beginning of a three-day long mystery that I had to solve- what was making Weston break out in hives??? I ended up taking Weston to the doctor Thursday morning and he said that I would figure out what it was making him break out because it would happen almost right away the next time he touched whatever made him break out. Well, that is all good in theory, but Weston continued to break out several times Thursday and each time he never seemed to be around the same things. This continued Friday (even though we were then at a hotel), and after keeping a very detailed journal of what he ate, played with, and his general surroundings the only thing I could conclude that was possibly making him break out was sucking on his pacifiers. Therefore, we decided to make Friday night a pacy free night. Well, this paired with the fact that we were lucky enough to have a child who reacts the opposite to Benadryl (it makes him more awake instead of sleepy- which the doctor warned me could happen) made for a very long night. This was one moment at about midnight that we wished we could have given Weston a pacy.

Well, after a night without his pacy he broke out in the morning and then he didn't break out for the rest of the day. So, I thought we were on to something with the pacy theory even though he did break out that morning. Sunday was another hive free day and the appearance of his second tooth. The tooth explained his fussiness all weekend in Madison for Beth's graduation from UW-Madison, but could this explain the hives?

Well, Monday I decided to give him his pacy and test my theory...nothing happened, so I was back at square one. I still have no idea why he broke out and I guess only time will tell if it will happen again. For now, I am just glad he isn't breaking out anymore because it was really starting to worry me.

Okay, enough about the hives. In other news, as I mentioned above, Beth graduated this past weekend and we are very proud of her!! She earned her degree in Rehabilitation Psychology (I think that is right).

Also, while we were in Madison Mike took one of his last two tests to get his job and he passed! Now, he just has to pass his last test (his sixth one) on Thursday and if all goes well he will start June 1st. I am very proud of him and all the hard work he has done up to this point! Once he officially starts his job we will do some official house hunting. We are really focused on the neighborhood/location this time and won't mind getting less of a house for a better neighborhood. We weren't too happy with the neighborhood we ended up in in Texas and are especially glad we don't live there anymore because our neighbors, Rishelle and Jim, told us that our old house was recently broken into when the new owner was at work- scary!!

Weston is also doing some things that we are proud about. He is now balancing on his knees without support.

He also got up enough courage to let go of the dresser the other day and stand on his own for a few seconds! I was excited that I was able to catch it in a picture because I was already taking pictures of his outfit:)

Then, he is doing a new thing that we will probably not think is so cute in the future, but for now we are having fun with it. He has learned to shake his head "no." If we shake our heads "yes," he shakes his "no," and if we start out a question with "Are you...(i.e. silly)," he shakes his head no.

He is becoming very good at crawling and he keeps me on my toes all day long. In fact, I have a hard time getting things done because I have to keep my eye on him constantly. It also doesn't help when he undoes what I actually do get accomplished. The laundry in this picture was folded in neat piles at one point.

Whew! I think that is all the latest news. With all that has been going on lately Michael and I decided that today we needed a little time to de-stress. So, we went to the park for a family picnic because the weather was beautiful, and it is actually beginning to feel like summer!

Busy Week

It seems like a lot has happened in a week...since last Thursday:

-We battled Weston's first fever and ear infection. (NO FUN!)
-Weston cut his first tooth while being sick. (This makes for a very miserable baby and exhausted parents!!)
-Weston became quite proficient at crawling and now picks up every piece of lint, string, spider, dirt, etc. he can find and immediately puts it in his mouth.
-We find Weston sitting up in his crib when he wakes up.
-Weston now throws temper tantrums when he doesn't get his way. (We are hoping it is a phase he passes through quickly!)
-Weston started eating at least two meals a day and is enjoying it!
-Finally, Weston had his 9 mo. well baby check-up which included: meeting his new pediatrician, Dr. Menagh, who we liked very much; confirming what we already knew- Weston is small (in less than the 5th percentile for weight and the 16th for his height); finding out that Weston's regression in sleeping through the night is to be expected with all the changes he is going through; and, even though he didn't have to get shots this time, he still endured lots of pain with blood drawn and a little procedure we won't embarrass him about.


Oh, and Michael and I do have some sort of life outside of Weston... Michael is getting closer to starting his job. YEAH!! His background check cleared and now he just has to pass two tests (to be able to sell investment securities) which he hopes to do next week! For now he has been studying like crazy.


Okay... maybe just Michael has some sort of life outside of Weston because I can't think of a single new thing that has happened to me this week, but I guess that is how it is when you are a stay-at-home mom:)


To end, here is a picture and video of Weston making a his new facial expression that he makes quite often to get us to laugh. He clearly does it on purpose and will copy us if we do it first:)